The present invention relates to an information device having an enlargement display function of enlarging/displaying an arbitrary area on the display screen in a window set for enlargement display and an enlargement display control method applied to the device and, more particularly, to an information device and an enlargement display control method which can determine the area to be enlarged/displayed (enlargement display area) on the basis of the display position of the caret indicating the current input position in an input area set on the display screen.
In recent years, various personal computers such as notebook or palm-top type computers which are easy to carry and can be driven by batteries and various compact information terminals called PDA (Personal Digital Assistants) have been developed. Of these portable information devices, some devices have an enlargement display function (implemented by an application program) of setting a window for enlargement display as an independent window, and enlarging/displaying a portion, on the display screen, which is desired by a user in the enlargement display window.
In conventional portable information devices, when the user wants to enlarge/display an input character or the like on the display screen in the enlargement display window, he/she designates two arbitrary points for defining an enlargement display area, i.e., start and end points, with a pointing device such as a mouse. In response to this operation, the application program for implementing the enlargement display function determines the rectangular area defined by the start and end points as an enlargement display area, and operates to enlarge/display the contents displayed in this rectangular area in the enlargement display window at a predetermined magnification. As a result, an input character or the like on the display screen is enlarged/displayed.
When, for example, a character is to be input in an area where displayed characters are too small and illegible, the user must temporarily stop the character input operation to set an enlargement display area. This setting operation greatly deteriorates the operation efficiency. Furthermore, when the input position of a character deviates from the set enlargement display area, a new (enlargement display area must be set, resulting in a deterioration in operability.
The above problems can be summarized as follows.
In a conventional portable information device, every time enlargement display is to be performed, the user must set an enlargement display area with a pointing device or the like. For this purpose, the user must temporarily stop the character input operation he or she is doing, resulting in a great deterioration in processing efficiency.
In addition, when the input position of a character deviates from a set enlargement display area, the user must set a new enlargement display area, resulting in poor operability.